Did Jews Kill Christ?

It has recently been written in the local press in a letter to the editor of the Times of Malta that The Jews killed Christ and that this is "very well documented and proved without any reasonable doubt that Christ was crucified by Jews" I am not well versed in Christian Scriptures and have always been told by my parents that this statement is a religious slur against us Jews. Is there anything in The Christian Gospels were it says so, I mean that the Jews killed Christ? Are there any Christisan Official documents where the Jews are accused as the Christ-Killers? Is their anything on the internet where I could find articles to counter this slander? I ask all this because I would like to counter a letter which appeared last week in the local press which quoted that the Jews are christ-killers etc., I would appreciate if you can help me with my query.

Larry Attard

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Dear Larry,

Thanks for your letter. I have to say I am little embarrassed that people are saying--and writing--things like that anywhere today. Historically Jesus was put to death under Roman law ("crucified under Pontius Pilate") and according to our theology he died because of the sins of all men. The Jewish leaders who asked for his death represent the envy, lack of courage, bureaucratic inertia, etc. which is common to all of us. Those who want to put the blame on "the Jews" are those who are unwilling to face their own sinfulness.

By the way, have you read the Vatican Document We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah? It has a lot of material you could bring to people's attention. Pope John Paul II drawing on the Second Vatican Council has made many statements on this topic since he lived thru the holocaust as a young seminarian in Poland and lost many friends, both Jewish and Catholic, to the Nazi horror. Have you been able to find some of this using different search engines? If not, let me know and I will find a few URLs for you.

God bless,

Fr. Phil Bloom

Pope Pius XII and the Shoah (New Yorks Times vs. New York Times)

Was Pius XII Hitler's Pope? (letter published in Brill's Content)

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